With the owners watching in horror as he loaded his shotgun in the woods behind the stable, trainer Andrew Kensington was forced to put down his prized jockey after he suffered an injury during an undercard race at the Kentucky Derby Saturday.

“Shhhh. There, there little buddy,” whispered Kensington into the 34-year-old Spaniard’s ear. “It’ll all be over soon.”

Spectators at Churchill Downs turned away in horror as Carlos “Intrepid Monseigneur” Velasquez took a fall coming around the final turn, shattering his leg. Kensington says there was no point in calling an ambulance because he knew right away that “the poor little bugger” would never race again.

“It’s truly heartbreaking. This was supposed to be his last race,” said teary-eyed owner Mary Jameson. “After today, we were going to send him back to the farm to stud him out. He could have sired such admirable stock.”

Jameson and Kensington will now have to go through the painstaking and expensive process of buying and training another young jockey to take Velasquez’s place on next year’s circuit. They both agree that life without Intrepid Monseigneur will be tough.

Added Kensington, “At least we can rest easy knowing he’ll be put to good use at the glue factory.”